Manufacture of shoes



Dec. 25, 1934. A. J. BRAUER ET AL MANUFACTURE OF SHOES Original Filed.Aug. 15, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 [366- 1934. A. J. BRAUER El ALMANUFACTURE OF SHOES Original Filed Aug. 15, 1932 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Patented Dec. 25, 1934 MANUF oTUREoF SHoEs Arthur J.-Brauer andFrederick P. 'Wagner, St. Louis, Mo., assignors toBrauer Bros 1110-, St;

- Louis, Mo., a c'orporati on of Missouri l Original application August115, 193'2,fs n 1.Nol 1 628,856. Divided and thisapplication June 23,1934, Serial No. 732,042 1 i 1 4 Claims.

i This 'invention relates generally to the menu;

:facture of shoes and particularly to a method of making shoes, uponlasts which have been profvided with reference points from which thepositions .of lthe shoe parts, during manufacture,

mayibe gauged andwhereby the opening length of the shoes is controlled.This application is adivision of our prior oo-pending application SerialNo. 623,'85, filed August 15, 1932;

. In, the manufacture; of shoes, as heretofore practiced, an upper .isassembled upon the last with insole. and by use of a lasting machine ,apulling-over operation is accomplished, it havingheretofore. been thepractice that the opera- :tor pull the upper as far as would permitwithout setting up-severe strainsin the leather of .which the upper iscomposed. It is well known that different grades of -skins or fabricsfrom which shoes-are fabricated have different degrees ,of. elasticityand consequently the final position of an upper of one kind of materialon-the :last is often considerably different from theibfinal. positionof a different. kind ofupper; likewise the final position of a lastedupper with reference to its last hasheretofore varied considerablydepending upon'the eye of the opera- :tor. -;Consequently in view of thefact that the extent of the-pulling operation has heretofore beendetermined entirely by the operator, there M has been considerablevariance in the opening :sizes; as well; as the vamp height of shoes ofa particularstyle and size Such accuracy as has heretofore beenobtainable, particularly with reference tothe opening length of a shoe,has lbeen :made possible through sheer guess work and.had depended, to alarge extent upon the skill'iof the operator who performs thepullingover operation. It-is among the objects of the present inventionto so gauge the usual shoe making lasts that the guess work is removedfrom the pulling-over operation and to provide definitemarksbywhich thepulling-over and otherv lasting operations may be gauged so thataccuracy offittingand alinement of an upper ona lastis facilitated. 1 Yn I An object of the present invention generallyv stated isjto provide alast-withsuitable instru- .mentalities; whereby the position of an uppermay be. gauged thereon. 1 Another object of this invention is to provideaimethod and apparatus for; gauging lasts in accordance with ,the sizesthereof and with reference-to the; d-iiferential between the gradingscales ;of lasts and patterna A furthenob ie'cth'of this invention istopros r Y vide a last with definite, gauging marks. the po- IsitionsofQwhichI are arrived at in accordance withf'the eizes, of .the'las'ts and through a coordination eth c.,cqnventional last and patternjeradatnn. I 1L Y i A more: ecifi'c object ofthis invention is toprovide a lastj ,with' a back height "gauging mark and with-anindicatingmember having thereon a series of marks", the member beingpositioned with referencetoithe backheight indicator and in acskilled inthe. art'when the, following description is ire'adlinconnection ithflthe accompanying drawi s; nwh chf Figure 1 is a: side elevatio'nbf anapparatus suitable for gauging and marking lasts in'aceorjdaneejwiththe. present jinvention. 1 t (Figure 2 is'aplan few of a last markedinacco'rdance with 'the,present invention by, the apparatus-shown inFigure 1.

V Figuresis a perspectiveview of an indicating member suitable for and"adapted tobe attached to the last'ofFigure' 2 in accordance with themark made thereon.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a last provided withtheindicatingmember of Figure-3 and having assembled thereon an' upper.

- Figure 5is a perspective view of a'last'having assembled thereon anupper of the oxford type and. illustrating a difierent forrnofindicating 1 member.

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken through the last of Figure 5 andshowing the mounting for the indicating member. 1?ig ure-7 is adetailview ,beror'gauging instrument shown inFigures 5 Figure 8 isa'detail view of a. fittingelement forthe instrument of Figure 7.

- Infaccordance ,stated, indications are provided in the back and alsoalongthecone oflasts whereby the completed uppers may begaugedwithreference to the last a during the piillingoveroperation andbefore theof the indicating memwiththis invention. generally upper is secured inposition with reference to the last. The positions of the respectivemarks at the back and also on the cone of the last are, in accordancewith the present invention, determined in accordance with the size ofthe shoe and by coordination of the last and pattern gradations. By thuscoordinating the last and pattern gradations, it is possible toascertain the correct opening length for a particularstyle of a certainsize shoe. By mathematical deductions and by coordinating the scales oflast and pattern gradations, the difference in opening length for thenext size shoe of that particular style may be readily ascertained.

To more fully illustrate the method of determining the position of theindications on the back and cone parts of the last whereby the upper may'be gauged, the procedure in gauging lasts for womens shoes adapted toreceive a 19/8 heel will be described. Lasts for womens shoes are gradedregularly in overall length to each size. This is usually referred to asthe stick length and is the distance between the toe andthe most remotepart on the curvature of the back, As to height at the back or heel end,these lasts are conventionally graded to each size.

A different scale of gradations is, however, adopted and conventionallyfollowed with reference to patterns for such shoes. Vamp patterns aregraded for a whole size. Quarter patterns are graded regularly to thewhole size at the back seam.

Since the stick length of lasts vary per whole size, while vamp patternsvary per whole size, and since the difference between the vamp lengthand the stick length corresponds to the length of. the opening whichwill exist between the throat of the shoe and the back seam, it isapparent that the opening length varies per whole size the differencebetween and This differential maybe determined to be per whole size or/48 per half size.

To illustrate .more 1 fully, the proper opening length for a size 4 pumpmay be, by experiment or in any suitable manner to assure properfitting, determined to be, for instance, 6 The overall stick length of asize 4 last is, however 9%" so that 3" is left for the vamp length. Theheight at the back seam is 2". From these basic dimensions, dimensionscorresponding for the same style shoes may be readily determined for allother sizes. The following table illustrates a determination of thesedimensions for sizes 3, 3 4, 4 and 5:

Size 3 3% 4 4% 5 Openings 5 6 /18 6% 6 1 42 6%; Vamps 2% 2 /15 3 3M0 3%Overall stick length- 8 %4. 8 9% 9%4 9 924 Back height 1 1 3412 2 2622540 able mark or indicant whereby to gauge the'ba-ck ance with theforegoing description. "Fromthis size (e. g.,

by such members.

mark or indicant, the appropriate opening length may be gauged in orderto determine the position for a suitable mark or indicant to be placedon the cone of the last whereby the throat portion of the shoe may begauged. The appropriate length for the opening for the particular sizeshoe may be arrived at in accordance with the procedure above described.Having thus arrived at the proper positions for the gauging indicant fora particular size of, for instance pumps, any number of subordinateindicants may then be placed on the last, each at a predetermineddistance from the indicant first formed. Such subordinate indicants maybe understood to represent points to which uppers for different stylesof shoes of the same size should be pulled. For instance, if the firstmark is determined with reference to the proper opening length forpumps, it will be understood that the position of the throat line on,for instance straps, will be lower while on the other hand the positionof the throat line on, for instance, gores will be somewhat higher. Thedifference, however, between the proper opening length for a strap andthe proper opening length for a pump is, however, the same no matterwhat size the shoe may be; likewise with other types of shoes; the Vampsbeing simply a constant distance longer or shorter regardless of size.In accordance with the present invention, therefore, the main orreference mark having been arrived at, a suitable indicating memberwhich may be in the nature of a plate may be affixed to the cone of thelast, and have thereon gradations corresponding to the various styles ofshoes and designating points by which the uppers of such styles may begauged during lasting. It will be understood that such plates will beidentically the same for every size shoe but the position 'of the platewill vary up and down on the cone of the last in accordance with thesize thereof.

The distance gauged from the back height position to locate the throatline may be represented mathematically as follows using for example a.size 5 last (size 4 being the model size) and referring to the abovetable:

' 5 /48") the sign being plus or minus according as the size of the lastis greater or less than the model The point of reference may beestablished at the measured distance or in accordance therewith, as isthe case when a plurality of subordinate indicants are provided as abovedescribed, or when the remote point is used. In the latter case aconstant K will enter in as follows:

CiKi-SO K being the difference between the proper opening length and thedistance (established point of referenceback height) and the sign of Kbeing negative when the point of reference is back or v} the forwardterminus of the opening, and positive when in front. The latterexpression applies specifically to the embodiment shown in Figures 5 to8 inclusive, as well as the plate shown in Figure 3.

When all the lasts of a shoe factory have been provided with suchindicating members, the positions having been determined in accordancewith the procedure above described, it is apparent that :the operativeswho perform the pulling-over operations may gauge the extent of thisoperation All that the operative need know is the particular indicationon the member towhich the-uppers-of any lot of shoes are to be pulled.The various indications may be distin guished as by suitable charactersor colors and it will be understood that in a lot consisting of but onestyle of shoes of sizes 2 to 8, the operative will pull the uppers onall shoes, regardless of size, to the same indication on the'lndicatingmember or plate. The operative need pay no attention to size since theposition of the plate was initially determined with reference to thesize of the last, and accordingly the plate provides a series ofdifferent indications to any one of which a lot of shoes consisting ofvarious sizes may be lasted and whereby the proper-gradation of openinglengths for correspondingxsizes will be obtained with accuracy. .f v Q IReferringnow particularly to the drawings for a detail description of anillustrative embodiment, there is shown in Figure 1 a device suitableior gauging the lasts in accordance with theprocedure above described.Such a device may comprise a rail 1 having at each end thereof lips 2 bywhich thesame may be suitably secured to a supporting structure as, forinstance, a table 3. At one end of the rail 1 may be provided adepending leg 4 adapted to receive an'L-shaped member 5 in slidablerelation. It will be understood that the members 4' and'5 may bemaintained in longitudinal alinement by a suitable tongue and groovedconstruction and a suitable clamping arrangement such, for instance, asa wing nut 6 on a screw '7 projecting through said members may beprovided.

At the lower end of the L-shaped member 5 is a seat 8 upon which theheel plate of an ordinary last may be rested during the gaugingoperation. 011' the lower end of the leg .4 may be provided a suitableinstrument 9 adapted to make an indentation in the back part of a last.

On the vertically extending portion of the L- shaped member 5 may beprovided a suitable scale 11 for gauging the distance between the seat-8 and thepoin'ted instrument 9. The indentation made by the pointedinstrument 9 for a particular size last will be understood to representthe proper position for the top of the upper at that point. Accordingly,thegraduations of such scale 11 will, in the case of women's shoes asabove described, occur at intervals of 3 1 since this is the patterngradient for eachhalf size, at this point. Such scale 11, it will beunderstood, will cooperate with a suitable zero indication such as 12 onthe stationary leg 4. When the scales are thus arranged, it is apparentthat the graduation opposite the zero mark 12 will indicate the distancebetween seat 8 and the pointed instrumentQ. When it is desired to gaugelasts,the parts may be adjusted in accordance with the appropriate backheight for the particular size last which may be, for instance, in thecase of a size 4, 2".

Suitably mountedto slide along the rail 1 is a rider 13 having asuitable clamping device as, for instance, a set'screw 14 adapted toengage the surface of the rail 1. Depending from the rider 13 is a leg15 having at, the lower end thereof a cutting device 16 which may be inthe nature of a section of a saw-blade, the cutting portion of to besubdivided into forty-eighths inches, in order that the appropriatelength differential of 5/48" per half size may be arrived at and therider 13 set thereon accordingly.

When it is desired to gauge lasts the appropriate distance for the backheight may be set on scale ,11 and the rider :13 may be set at theproper opening length. Inthe case of size 4 womens lasts, the scale 11-will be set at 2" and the rider 13 will be set on the scale-18 at 6 inaccordance with the dimensions given in the table on page 8. With thedevice thus set, a last 17 may be placed in position with the heel platethereof upon the seat 8, (as indicated in broken lines) and the sameforced backwardly against the instrument 9 whereby an indentation ismade. -An operator may now 9scillate the toe of the shoe back and forthabout point 9 as a center and against the cuttingedge of member 16 asindicated in full linesin Figure 1. In this manner a slight notchclearly shown in Figure 2 at 19 will be formed on the conezofthe lastandwill'be spaced at a distance and having been determined in-accordance with theprocedure hereinbefore described.

The graduations of scales 11' and 18 may if desired be indicated by thediifere'nt shoe sizes to which they correspond. In the case of scale 18,however, provision should be made tov accommodate slight changes in-thebasic opening length necessitated by different heel heights.

With the apparatus of Figure 1 thus set i'or a particular size last, anynumber of lasts of that particular size may then be gauged withoutdisturbing the seating.

A suitable pin or other permanent indicator may be driven intoindentation 21 which was formed by the instrument 9 and this will beunderstood to provide a back height indicator for all shoes lasted uponthat last regardless of their styles. A suitable'indicating member orplate 22 illustrated in Figure 3 maybe applied to the cone of the lastpositioned with reference'to notch 19 made therein. For instance, member22 may be driven into the last in such manner that the zero graduationwill coincide with notch 19. The zero graduation will then indicate thethroat line position to which certain style uppers, for instance, pumpsare to be pulled. I The end of the plate below the zero indication maybe understood to represent the throat line position to which the uppersof anotherstyle, for instance, straps are to be pulled. Likewise withthe graduations' above in opening lengths for various sizes of shoes isthe feature which determines the position of the plate or member 22 withreference to indentation 21. r

In the manufacture of certain styles of shoes wherein the outside upperand lining are stitched or secured to each other flatly around themargin of the opening, the lining is, during the courseof manufacture,permitted to extend upwardly for a substantial distance. above thethroat line.

'After the lasting operations are completed, the

I ,9 8 5, 3 I I providing a last and locating a point on the backthereof corresponding to the back height of a shoe to be made thereon,predetermining the opening length of a shoe to be made on the last,locating a point on the forward part of the last at a distance from theback height position corresponding to the predetermined opening length,and making shoes on said last with the throat thereof positionedaccording to said point located on the forward part of the last.

2. The method of making shoes comprising, providing lasts and placing apositioning mark on the back thereof to determine the back height ofshoes made thereon, then locating a point on the forward portions ofsaid last determined by a predetermined opening length measured fromsaid back height mark, and making shoes on said lasts whereby shoes, ofthe same size will have fixed openings independent of the length of thelasts on which they are made.

3. The method of making shoes comprising, providing a last and locatinga point on the back thereof corresponding to the back height of a shoeto be made thereon, predetemining the opening length of a shoe to bemade on the last, measuring from the located'back height point adistance corresponding to the predetermined opening length and markingthe measured distance on the forward part of the last, and making shoeson said last with the throat thereof positioned according to said pointlocated on the forward part of the last. 1

4. The method of making shoes comprising, providing lasts and locating apoint on the backs thereof corresponding to the back height of shoes tobe made thereon, predetermining the opening length of a shoe to be madeon the lasts in accordancewith the size thereof, locating a referencepoint on the lasts at constant distance from the throat line position asdetermined by measuring the predetermined opening length from the backheight point, and making shoes on the lasts with with the position ofthe shoe partsgauged' from said located reference point whereby shoes ofthe same size will have fixed openings independent of the length of thelasts on which they are made.

ARTHUR J. BRAUER. FREDERICK P. WAGNER.

